Little progress at Rio summit

United Nations talks on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro are drawing to a close today (22 June) with little in the way of new developments.

Environmentalists have expressed disappointment with a draft declaration agreed by negotiators on Tuesday (19 June), which will be ratified today. “The final outcome document is in support of everything, but doesn’t commit to anything,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Europe.

“There will be no legally-binding outcomes from this conference. It was effectively an exercise in public relations by the industrialised nations,” she said.

European Union negotiators were able to point to some small successes in the draft declaration, mostly in the maritime sector. A provision on significant reductions of marine litter by 2025 was added at the request of EU member states. EU negotiators were also successful in getting stronger wording on the implementation of the UN’s Convention on Law of the Seas.

EU officials also took credit for maintaining strong language on the ‘green economy’ in the text. Developing countries had resisted this idea, because of fears that it would replace the concept of ‘sustainable development’ drawn up at the 1992 Earth Summit 20 years ago.

The final text now says that "there are different approaches, visions, models and tools" available other than the green economy.